


two of cups

by kihyuks



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Falling In Love, Fluff, Forests, Getting Together, M/M, Nymphs & Dryads, Tarot, Witches, but not really, changkyun's a green witch, cottages, hyunwoo's a dryad, lowkey a soulmates au???, small mention of the death of a past lover but theyre not named n not an mx member, some minor angst towards the end but its mostly fluffy as hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:42:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24773317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kihyuks/pseuds/kihyuks
Summary: changkyun, a green witch, wants a new start in life, so he decides to buy a little cottage out in the middle of nowhere that backs onto a vast forest so that he can be as close to nature as possible. through his exploration of the forest, he discovers something completely unexpected, but that brings him a whole lot of happiness.(or, a witch and a dryad form a bond neither of them expected.)
Relationships: Im Changkyun | I.M/Son Hyunwoo | Shownu
Comments: 8
Kudos: 56





	two of cups

**Author's Note:**

> happy shownu day!!! im v proud of this fic its one of my fave things ive ever written so i rly hope its enjoyable!!!
> 
> sorry if the tarot stuff is rly inaccurate im still learning abt it myself so i cant promise accuracy but i did my best

A new start. That’s what Changkyun likes to call his decision.

When he first sold his house and bought this tiny cottage on the edge of a forest, he told himself it was for a new start. When anyone asked what he was doing moving out to the middle of nowhere away from all his friends and the rest of civilisation, Changkyun told them he wanted a new start.

But a new start from what, exactly? That’s a question that right now Changkyun can’t find the answer to. It’s just been something that’s plagued his mind for the past year or so - the need to make a change, to do something different with his life.

And so when Changkyun had found the small, white cottage with the ivy climbing the walls, a vast forest of trees stretching out behind it as far as the eye can see, he’d taken it as a sign. He’d visited the cottage and taken a look around and every step across the creaky wooden floors (he’d probably have to sort that out at some point, but for now he’s going to leave it. It adds character, at least) had felt like a step closer to the new life he so dreamed of. 

Even with the feelings of the cottage being perfect, just right for what he wanted, Changkyun had still hesitated to go through with the purchase. What if he made a mistake? What if he changed his mind one month, two months, even a year down the line? What if he realised the isolated life he’s choosing isn’t for him? So, Changkyun turned to his tarot cards. He’d shuffled them carefully between his hands, being sure to treat each card gently and with the respect it deserves, and just as he’d been about to start his reading to garner the advice he needed to help him make his decision, a card fell from his hands and onto the floor below.

Looking up at him was the Fool, and that’s when Changkyun knew that he was making the right decision.

The Fool, the symbol of innocence and new beginnings, sprung Changkyun’s move into action and now, two months after he first stepped foot into the cottage, Changkyun has finally returned to it again.

And this time it’s finally where he can call home. 

It needs work, a lot of work, for the cottage to finally become a place he can be proud of, but Changkyun loves it anyway. The weeds are overgrown out the front of the cottage and there’s some minor issues inside that he’ll need to address, but none of that phases Changkyun. This is  _ his _ home, finally a place where he can be free and live the way he’s always wanted to. 

Changkyun’s only job is to do remote tarot readings for people all over the world, but it doesn’t bring a lot of income, and he doesn’t technically need to work anyway. He was left with a hefty inheritance when his parents passed away, and that’s more than enough for him to live on through life. 

So, Changkyun works occasionally, more to help others than for it to be necessary for him to live, and he spends the rest of his time practicing witchcraft, as that’s what Changkyun’s passion is. He’s a witch, through and through, and no snarky comments or disgusted looks can take that away from him. This is who he was born to be, who he’s destined to be, and he knows that.

And being a green witch, moving to a cottage on the edge of a forest where he can be close to nature and interact with the fauna and beings that reside there seemed - and still is - perfect for him. 

Unpacking the myriad of boxes that are piled up around his living room, however, isn’t so perfect, but it’s the first necessary step in him truly living the life that he’s so desperately wanted for years. 

There’s too many things to unpack, far too many for one person to achieve in one day, so Changkyun decides to start with just a few of the boxes for now. There’s no organisation system to his boxes, he’d just thrown things into whatever box was nearest to him at the time as he decluttered his old house before the big move, and he curses his past self for not thinking it through more. 

But, one box at a time, that’s all he needs to focus on. 

Changkyun pulls down a small box from the top of a stack (why Hoseok had decided to stack all of Changkyun’s boxes so precariously and so high up when he’d dropped Changkyun and his belongings off to his new cottage, Changkyun doesn’t know) and starts to go through it. 

He finds a few books, so he passes through his front room, which he’s decided to be his living room, and the kitchen behind it and then off to the right where one of the bedrooms is. Changkyun doesn’t need two bedrooms, and so he’d chosen the smaller of the two and decided he’s going to turn it into his study. Eventually, he knows he wants to get some grand bookshelves to line the walls, but for now the room is pretty bare (he’d bought the cottage without furniture and his furniture from his old house is going to be brought along tomorrow by Hoseok as they couldn’t fit everything into his van in one go). So, Changkyun puts the books down in the corner of the room in a pile so that he can eventually stack them on the bookshelves he knows he’ll eventually get. 

The process of going through the first box is tedious and Changkyun realises that he hadn’t done a good job at decluttering at all. He still owns so many items that he has no idea what to do with, so he puts one of the boxes aside to be his donate box, and another to be his rubbish box. 

Changkyun works through as many boxes as he can before the exhaustion starts to sink in and his bones start to feel heavy. The sun has already set long ago, the only light in the room coming from the dim overhead light (he needs to get a better bulb for it, he notes) and Changkyun decides that he’s done enough for today. 

The moving process is exhausting, so exhausting, and Changkyun decides he should get some well deserved sleep. He can work more tomorrow on unpacking more of his things and starting to get things sorted, which will be especially helped by Hoseok dropping off his furniture.

Changkyun sluggishly walks into his room where, thankfully, he at least has his mattress, duvet and pillows, even if his bed frame hadn’t quite made it to the cottage yet, and he ignores the thoughtful part of his brain that reminds him that he still needs to brush his teeth and wash his face before he sleeps in order to climb under his duvet, all cosy and warm. 

Almost as soon as his head hits the pillow, Changkyun is out like a light, the fatigue from the long day he’d had not allowing him to stay awake for a second longer.

* * *

When Changkyun wakes, the sun has already risen high in the sky. He stretches and stands, allowing the warmth of the sun that filters through the window to wash over him. He feels well rested, pleased that even though he was in a whole new place he hadn’t struggled to sleep like he often did. 

Changkyun wanders into his kitchen to take a look at what food he has. He knows he doesn’t have much, but he manages to find a half empty box of cereal, which he’s quick to dig his hand into and shovel the cereal into his mouth.

After eating enough to feel satisfied, Changkyun showers and gets dressed quickly, making sure to also wash his face thoroughly and give his teeth a good brush after neglecting to do so the night before. 

Once he’s ready, Changkyun takes one look at the boxes that are still scattered around his living room area and decides that unpacking can wait. He still has a few hours at least until Hoseok arrives with his furniture and it’ll be much easier to properly unpack once he has the furniture (at least, that’s the excuse he gives himself). 

So, instead, Changkyun decides to properly explore the surrounding area. He’d chosen this specific cottage not only for it’s quaint, homely feeling, but also for its location and proximity to the forest that stretches out behind it. When he’d visited, Changkyun hadn’t had a chance to properly explore the forest. He only managed to take a quick peek, but what he’d seen had brought a flutter to his heart. Something about nature, being so close to it and experiencing it in its purest form, always brought a warmth to Changkyun that he so desperately missed living in the city, where pollution and urbanisation run rampant.

So, to be in a place where Changkyun can truly connect to nature in the way that he’s destined to do brings a happiness to Changkyun that he’d never thought possible. 

The first step out of his front door, being able to take in a deep inhale of the clear, fresh air instead of the contaminated air he’d grown accustomed to in the city, brings Changkyun a clarity he’d been desperately searching for his whole life. For before it had felt like he’d been coasting along, going through the motions as was expected of him, but being here, experiencing the world in its natural form instead of the damage that’s been done by humans, it makes Changkyun see things in a whole new light.

He was meant to come here. He knows it now. He’s always thought fate was trying to lead him on a certain path, slowly directing him towards where he’s destined to be. And finally,  _ finally _ , he’d found it. 

He shuts the door behind him, locking it even though he knows it’s unnecessary as no one lives near here other than him.

The dense thicket of the forest stretches out as far as his eye can see, and it intimidates Changkyun in a way. Here lies nature at its finest, with it’s overgrown trees, fauna of more types than Changkyun has probably seen in his life, and who knows what else could reside in there. 

But in the same way the forest intimidates Changkyun, it excites him. The vastness intimidates him as it excites him, for there is so much for Changkyun to discover, so much for him to explore, and there’ll always be something more to see. 

Changkyun takes a deep breath, and then steps into the forest. He treads carefully, dodging past flowers that he sees sprouting up from the ground, and ventures into the heart of the forest. 

As he walks, Changkyun reaches out and lets his fingertips brush over the rough bark of the trees. He stops occasionally and crouches down, examines the flowers and mushrooms he spots, taking note of which species he recognises and which he doesn’t to research later. 

The trees are compacted together, towering overhead, and the bright sunlight that had shone into Changkyun’s room this morning is nowhere to be seen. Instead, the little light that makes its way through the leaves is scattered around sparingly, giving the already intimidating forest an even darker, more threatening demeanour. 

Changkyun takes his time exploring, letting himself get lost in all the twists and turns that he takes, following the natural flow of the trees. He allows nature to lead him, following its whispers in the wind, knowing that he can trust it to show him what he needs to see. 

He finds a small clearing deep into the forest. After the dim light through most of the forest, it’s different to see the break in the trees which allows the beaming sunlight to touch the ground unbroken. Changkyun’s eyes take a moment to adjust to the intensity, but when they do he inhales quickly in awe.

The clearing is almost a perfect circle, with a smaller ring of mushrooms in the centre, which appear to be a fairy circle. Changkyun is careful to stay on the outskirts of the clearing. He doesn’t want to disturb a thing about it, for if this truly is a fairy circle as he suspects, he doesn’t want to cross it and upset any fae in the area. Changkyun has never encountered the fae personally, but he’s heard enough of the myths and legends of them to know not to disturb them. 

Changkyun stands there for a few moments longer, truly takes in the beauty of the clearing before him, and then turns to leave and return to his home where he knows he needs to continue unpacking.

Something draws Changkyun’s attention back to the clearing. He notices that one tree in particular seems to grow bigger than the others, seems to draw more attention to itself than the others. Changkyun can’t quite place it, but this one tree stands out to him. He nods to the tree briefly, for it must have been the tree that caught his attention, and then makes his return to his cottage. 

* * *

The process of unpacking his boxes and finally getting the cottage looking the way he wants it to takes Changkyun around a week. During this long, tedious process he also discovers that it takes half an hour to walk to the nearest supermarket to buy his groceries, which turns out to be much further than he’d anticipated, but he finds that he doesn’t mind too much. It gives him an excuse to simply exist in the world, clear his mind of any negative thoughts and energy on the walk there and back, and carrying the bags back home also provided a good arm workout for him.

Once his furniture is arranged the way he wants it to be, his cottage finally starts to feel completely like home. Every second he spends in his new cottage just feels  _ right _ , and he’s so glad that he chose to make the purchase. 

With moving into a new house, Changkyun had come to neglect his craft just a bit. He hasn’t touched his tarot cards in nearly two weeks which is almost unheard of for him. At the bare minimum he likes to do a quick pull in the morning, just to prepare himself for his day, but even that had been neglected during the process. 

So, with everything done and dusted and looking the way Changkyun wants it to look, he decides to take a day and dedicate it fully to reimmersing himself in his craft. The first order of business, he decides, is to see what he can find in the area around him that will be useful to him. Changkyun prefers to use objects from his local area when performing witchcraft, as he feels like it brings him closer to nature and that his spells are more powerful. He’d brought everything he owned before at his previous house, which is a lot, but there’s no harm in collecting some more spell ingredients that come from his new home as opposed to his old. 

Changkyun has no particular plan in mind as he wanders back into the forest as he did a few days prior. He’s only been into the forest one time before, so he has no mental document of what he might find in the forest in terms of spell ingredients or any idea of the layout, so he’s just going to meander around and see what he comes across. 

Birds chirp overhead and Changkyun looks up to try and make them out, but they’re camouflaged in the trees. He gives a smile anyway.

Changkyun likes to always smile at nature, to show his appreciation for it outwardly. He knows people think it’s weird, he’s had more than enough rude comments about it through the years, but he continues to do it anyway. Nature deserves appreciation, it deserves to be acknowledged for how beautiful and inspiring it is, and so Changkyun will do whatever he can to show that appreciation. 

He wanders deeper into the forest and comes across an abundance of small, white flowers carpeting the ground. Changkyun crouches down to get a closer look and, as he’d suspected upon first spotting them, recognises the flowers as wood anemone. 

As to not disturb nature too much, Changkyun only picks a few of the flowers, and he whispers a thanks to the plants to show his gratitude for being able to take some. Changkyun hasn’t used wood anemone a lot before personally, but he’s heard many stories about them being good for protection against disease. Changkyun plans to dry the flowers when he returns home and carry one of them on him at all times to protect himself from disease. He may also craft some jewellery out of the flowers to send back to his friends from the city. Although none of them are witches as he is, he knows that they all appreciate his gifts.

Changkyun comes across tall purple flowers only a few minutes after he finds the wood anemone field. He’s careful to not touch the foxgloves he sees, because as pretty as they are, they’re poisonous to humans. While Changkyun might have just found a flower that is meant to protect from disease, he’s still not going to risk it. He knows better than that. 

A shiny blue shape zips past Changkyun, and he follows it to see that it’s a hummingbird flying up to the foxgloves he’d just passed. He smiles, watching as it flies from one flower to another, before it flies off again. 

Changkyun continues on, and without even trying to find it he finds himself back at that same clearing he came across before. It looks the same as it did before, undisturbed and beautiful, but something about the energy feels different this time, almost like someone else has passed through here. 

Changkyun considers that maybe another human passed through, but it just seems so unlikely. There’s no one around for miles, just him in his cottage, and he doubt he’d be able to sense the energy change from another human.

So what else?

Maybe his theory about fae is right, Changkyun realises. He looks down at the flowers in his hand and then, careful not to cross the ring, places one of them down. “An offering,” he says in case any of the fae are still lingering around and may hear him. 

He waits for a few moments, just to see if anything will happen, but when nothing does he bows his head and then leaves the clearing in search of more ingredients he may be able to use. 

* * *

The presence of a new energy brings Hyunwoo out of his slumber. It’s a presence he sensed once before, but didn’t get a chance to see as he’d been deep into his sleep, but this time it wakes him. 

Hyunwoo looks around cautiously and sees exactly what woke him - a human. 

It’s unusual to see humans around here. Hyunwoo personally has never encountered a human before, but he’s heard stories of them. Savage beasts, uncaring of the environment and world around them, destroying everything in their path.  _ Humans are not to be trusted _ , he was told time and time again. 

The number one rule of life to a dryad is to never trust a human. Hyunwoo knows this well, and so he keeps himself hidden in his tree, the tree that is as much him as he is it, but he observes the human.

Curiosity is said to be a very human trait, but it’s one that Hyunwoo shares too. He’s never seen a human before, and he’s only heard terrible tales about what they do to beings like him, and that was more than enough to peak his curiosity. 

But if humans are such terrible creatures, then why does this particular human move in such a delicate, cautious way. Every step Hyunwoo sees him take, he checks the ground below him to make sure he’s not crushing anything beneath his feet. He even smiles at a passing squirrel. 

Hyunwoo’s eyes follow the human with every step he takes into Hyunwoo’s home, but the human doesn’t seem to mean harm.

Surely, if he were to want to harm the world around him, he would not be so mindful with every action he takes. 

Hyunwoo simply observes. He watches as the human places something into the centre of the ring and speaks some words aloud. Hyunwoo doesn’t make them out, for he is too far away and has not prepared himself to hear a human language.

The human bows his head and then takes his leave.

Hyunwoo watches as the human goes and then he waits. He waits, and waits, and waits. He waits until he’s sure that the human is gone and not coming back anytime soon, and then he steps out of his tree, forming himself into a corporeal being. 

As Hyunwoo separates from his tree and steps up to the ring, he continues to look around him, cautious that the human may return. 

But he does not return, and Hyunwoo is able to examine the object that the human left behind before he spoke those mysterious words that Hyunwoo unfortunately missed. 

A small, white flower sits in the centre of the mushroom ring. 

Hyunwoo smiles.

Maybe humans aren’t as bad as he’s been led to believe. 

* * *

As the days pass, Changkyun gets into a routine. He starts off his morning by pulling a card from his deck, one to symbolise the day ahead, and then he goes on a run. He avoids the forest as he can’t be careful about not stepping on any plants when he’s running as he likes to do when he walks through the forest, so instead he runs down the road that leads towards the other nearest houses, and then back up again to his cottage.

Slowly, he starts to incorporate some work back into his day. He offers sessions to his regulars first and all of them are happy to see him again when their meeting comes around. 

Changkyun also makes sure to contact his friends from the city. Even if he’d made the choice to move away and live in solitude, he doesn’t want to lose those friendships he’d formed.

And, over the time that Changkyun’s routine comes to be, he finds himself revisiting that same spot in the forest, the clearing with the fairy circle, almost daily.

There’s no way to explain why it is that Changkyun’s so drawn to that particular area. He doesn’t even actively decide to go back there every day, his feet just take him there on their own.

He takes small offerings with him whenever he ventures into the forest and makes sure to leave them in the circle when he comes across it again. So far, he’s had no such luck of communicating with any fae that might live in the forest, but his offerings do disappear once he leaves them, so he can only assume that fae, or maybe some other creature, are definitely enjoying what he leaves. 

While he hadn’t actively been going out to the fairy circle, Changkyun decides that today he’s going to leave a bigger offering back there. 

The walk there takes no time at all. It’s second nature for him now to find the fairy circle, which is probably why he keeps finding himself coming back here unintentionally. 

As always, Changkyun is careful to not step into the circle. He knows the legends of what may happen if you step into a fairy circle, and while there are both positive and negative stories that he’s heard, Changkyun decides not to risk it. 

He kneels on the edge of the circle, the dew on the grass sinking through his trousers and onto his skin, making a shiver run down his spine, but he doesn’t mind it. It grounds him to feel nature connect to him, even if it is in such a simple way as dew on grass. 

Changkyun opens up his little bag that he’d brought with him and as soon as he does so he gets hit with the strangest feeling, almost like someone is watching him. He whips his head around, checking between all of the trees that surround the clearing, and even up above at the canopy, but he doesn’t see anyone, or anything, there. 

He must be imagining it. 

Changkyun had brought with him a collection of his favourite dried flowers in various different colours, as well as some berries that he’d come across on one of his runs. Changkyun isn’t sure what the berries are, all he knows is they’re small and red, but he’s careful not to squeeze any too tight and get any juice on him just in case. 

He lays each of the items into the circle carefully, giving each one care and attention to make sure that it isn’t damaged in any way.

“If any fae are around, I would love to communicate with you,” he speaks into the silence. 

There is no reply, because there wouldn’t be a reply, he knows that, but Changkyun can’t help but feel disappointed anyway. He’d really been hoping that maybe today would be the day that he finally gets to communicate with a faerie.

“I will leave this offering,” he says. “Please, enjoy it.” Changkyun stands, collects his bag, and bows his head to the ring as is becoming his custom.

That eerie feeling, the one where he’s so sure someone is watching him, comes back. A shiver runs down Changkyun’s spine. He checks around again, but he sees nothing. 

Changkyun shakes himself out of the uncomfortable feeling and then makes his way back to his cottage. 

He knows that it’s probably nothing, just his imagination playing tricks on him as it likes to do often, but Changkyun decides that it’s better to be safe than sorry and perform a cleansing ritual anyway on the off chance something followed him home from the forest. 

He chooses a simple smoke cleansing ritual, lighting some incense and blowing out the flame so that it produces smoke and waves it around himself first and foremost, and then around his whole cottage, making sure to cleanse every corner, nook and cranny.

And while Changkyun knows it’s probably unnecessary, the act of cleansing his space brings a sense of relief to him.

Whatever it might’ve been that he felt watching him out in the forest, he knows for sure that it’s definitely not here with him now.

* * *

A dream changes everything for Changkyun. It comes after a regular day, one where he’d simply followed his usual routine and made sure to leave another offering in the fairy circle in hopes that soon he’ll be able to encounter a fae. 

Changkyun wakes suddenly in the night and finds himself standing in the darkness. But wait, that’s not right. He should be lying down in his bed. 

Changkyun looks around, but there’s nothing distinctive about the place that he’s found himself in. It looks empty and vast. 

He looks down at himself and sees that his hands are translucent, and Changkyun realises that he’s definitely not awake. He must still be asleep, dreaming, but more lucid than usual. 

In front of his eyes, a tree materialises. It looks familiar, somehow, but Changkyun can’t quite place why. It’s just a tree, after all, and he sees hundreds if not thousands of those every single day.

But then he realises. It’s the tree that sits in front of the fairy circle, slightly outside the ring of other trees, the one that he’d noticed on the first day as being more prominent than the other trees.

So, he knows what the tree is now, where he’s seen it before, but that doesn’t help to explain why it is that he’s seeing it in his dream. 

“Hello, human,” a deep voice comes, echoing all around him, and he can’t tell where it originates from, as it seems to come from all around him. 

“Um, hi?” Changkyun says quietly when he finds his voice again. 

A laugh sounds, echoing around him once again, but Changkyun listens closer and he realises that it’s coming from the tree.

The tree is talking to him. 

Now, Changkyun believes in many things in life that others don’t believe in, and he’s always open to learning about other people’s beliefs, whatever they may be, but talking trees is not something Changkyun’s ever heard of before. 

But the tree doesn’t stay as a tree for long. It morphs and changes and then soon there is no long a tree in front of Changkyun, but a man. Or, well, a being who’s taken the shape of a man, because Changkyun is almost certain whoever this is, they’re not human. 

The man, being, tree-person, whoever he is, bows his head. “I am here to thank you for your offerings. I was not sure of a better way to communicate with you. I apologise if I startled you.” When the man speaks, his voice doesn’t echo as it did when it came from the tree, and Changkyun finds himself relaxing more. He feels more comfortable talking to a being in the shape of a man than a talking tree, and the being must have realised this. “My human name is Hyunwoo,” the man continues. “I am a dryad of the tree you saw before.”

A dryad.  _ Shit _ . Changkyun should’ve thought of that instead of immediately assuming that it was fae. 

“I hope I didn’t upset you by leaving fae offerings and talking as if you were a fae,” Changkyun hurries to say, worried about upsetting the dryad. 

“On the contrary, I much appreciated the gifts you left. They may not have been intended for me, but I have greatly enjoyed them. I must thank you again for your offerings and your time.”

Changkyun smiles. This dryad, Hyunwoo as he’d introduced himself, seems nice. Changkyun wouldn’t mind befriending a dryad, either. He’s sure he can learn a lot from Hyunwoo. 

“You will wake soon,” Hyunwoo comments suddenly. “Come and visit me at my tree. I would love to formally introduce myself.”

And Changkyun can’t say no to that, so he decides that as soon as he’s awake and the sun has risen, he’ll visit Hyunwoo in the forest. 

“If I may ask, what is your name?”

Changkyun hadn’t realised he forgot to tell Hyunwoo his name, and swears under his breath at such a simple mistake. “I’m Changkyun. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Changkyun. I hope to see you soon.”

And with those words, Hyunwoo disappears and Changkyun slips back into the darkness. 

* * *

Hyunwoo wakes when he senses the human’s - or Changkyun’s, as he knows him now - presence enter the clearing again. 

Hyunwoo stays as part of his tree while he watches Changkyun cautiously step closer and closer to Hyunwoo’s tree, looking around in confusion. It amuses Hyunwoo, but he only makes Changkyun face his confusion for a short period before he steps out of the tree and becomes the shape he’d shown himself as to Changkyun before. 

As a spirit, Hyunwoo can take on any shape he so wishes, whether corporeal or not, but over the many, many years that he’s existed he’s found that a human body is his preferred way to exist when he separates his spirit from his tree. 

“Good morning, Changkyun,” Hyunwoo greets. He bows his head, another show of thanks. “I am glad you came.”

“Yeah, me too,” Changkyun agrees easily. “Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if the dream was a real thing or just my imagination, so it’s pretty cool to find out that, you know, you actually do exist.”

Hyunwoo smiles. Changkyun speaks in a different way than Hyunwoo had learnt the human language to be, more informally, but he finds it interesting. Humans are highly interesting to Hyunwoo, and he wonders why he was warned to stay away from them. There’s surely no harm in talking to Changkyun, at least. 

“I would like to thank you, once again, for all your offerings and for not disturbing the forest when you visit.”

Changkyun smiles wide and proud. “I’m glad you like them, really. I’m actually a green witch, so being close to nature and co-existing with it is very important to me.”

“A green witch?” Hyunwoo asks with a tilt to his head. He’s never heard this term before. 

“Oh, uh, shit. How do I explain what a witch is?” Changkyun’s clearly talking to himself, not to Hyunwoo, and Hyunwoo can’t help but let out a little laugh. Changkyun looks at him, wide-eyed, realising his blunder. “I’m so sorry.”

“I do not mind,” Hyunwoo says, and he really doesn’t. “You do not have to explain, I am sure I can learn. I did have something else to ask, if I may?”

Changkyun nods enthusiastically. “Of course. Go ahead.”

“I have always been warned to be wary of humans, told that humanity is a plague to this Earth,” Hyunwoo starts, and Changkyun gives a sympathetic nod, which further reinforces Hyunwoo’s thoughts that Changkyun is far different than these humans that Hyunwoo’s been warned about. “I have never encountered a human. Not until you. You intrigue me, Changkyun.”

“I do?”

“You do. If you could be so kind, I would greatly appreciate if I could learn about humanity and humans from you. I have never had a chance before, and it has always been a curiosity of mine,” Hyunwoo asks. He’s unsure if Changkyun is willing to even entertain him, and it brings him a small sliver of guilt to even ask for more from Changkyun after he’s already left him so many offerings, but this may be his only chance, and so he wants to take it. 

“I’d love nothing more than to show you about humans, and hopefully change your views on what we’re like. Some humans can be pretty shit, I won’t lie, and most people aren’t so environmentally conscious, but I would hope I’m a good representation of the good side of humanity.” He speaks so earnestly, that Hyunwoo doesn’t know why he even worried about asking.

Changkyun has a good soul, Hyunwoo decides easily.

“I don’t know how to even teach you about humans, though,” Changkyun adds sheepishly. 

“I believe a good start would be to return to your dwelling with you and observe you, would it not?” Hyunwoo offers. He’s not sure how to really go about this arrangement either, he’s never interacted another being that’s not a nymph like himself. 

Changkyun giggles, but nods. “You sound kinda creepy with that. I’ll have to teach you to speak less formally.”

Hyunwoo bows his head apologetically. “As I said, I have never spoken to a human before. I do not know what your customs are.”

Changkyun waves a hand dismissively. “Don’t worry, everyone has to start somewhere. We’re speaking the same language, at least, so that makes it easier.” He offers out his hand.

Hyunwoo stares at it with a frown. What does it mean for a human to offer their hand out? He’s not used to these customs, he barely speaks the language as one should, apparently. 

Changkyun, seeing Hyunwoo’s confusion, says, “When we make a deal, we shake on it. Like this.” Changkyun demonstrates moving his hand up and down.

Still unsure, but wanting to show Changkyun his willingness to learn, Hyunwoo joins his hand with Changkyun’s and, with a loose grip, moves their hands up and down as Changkyun had shown him. He watches their hands move for a few seconds, and then looks up at Changkyun’s face.

He’s met with Changkyun’s beaming smile. “You got it,” he praises.

Hyunwoo feels a swell of pride in his chest. 

Changkyun releases Hyunwoo’s hand and drops his back to his side. He nods his head towards the direction that he’d entered from. “Shall we go back to mine?”

Hyunwoo nods. “Thank you, Changkyun.”

And as a green witch and a dryad pass through the forest side by side, a bond begins to form between them that neither of them could’ve expected. 

* * *

Changkyun does his very best to ignore Hyunwoo’s presence in his house. It’s hard to ignore the presence of a dryad, though, as Hyunwoo has this particular energy about him that makes him  _ impossible _ to ignore.

But Hyunwoo had asked to observe Changkyun, and so he has to do his best to act as he normally does and show Hyunwoo what his life is truly like. 

Unlike his morning routine, Changkyun doesn’t have a set evening routine. He’d focused on getting his mornings figured out first and starting to get into the swing of things with those before he worked on an evening routine too so as to not overwhelm himself. But, there are a few things he always makes sure to do in his evenings at some point - namely cleansing his space, doing a tarot reading for himself if he finds that he has the energy left, and then taking a bath. 

Cleansing his space was simple enough, and Hyunwoo had stepped out of Changkyun’s way as he worked his way around his living room, then followed Changkyun into the other rooms as he cleansed those, making sure to keep a good distance away from him. 

When Changkyun finishes cleansing everything with his incense, he turns to find Hyunwoo staring at him intently. “Yes?” Changkyun asks, wondering what Hyunwoo might be thinking.

“Oh, I apologise, I got lost in thought there,” Hyunwoo says, breaking his intense stare with Changkyun’s chest. “I was wondering what the purpose of you waving the smoke around is.”

“It’s to cleanse my space from any negative energies. I try to do it quite often as I only just moved here, so I want to remove anything that might be lingering from before,” Changkyun explains.

“I see. Thank you.” 

Changkyun grabs his favourite tarot cards, the pack with plant and animal imagery on each of the cards, and takes a seat on the floor in front of his low coffee table. It’s not the most comfortable on the floor, but he finds that he can better focus when he’s sitting in a slightly uncomfortable position than when he’s sitting on his sofa or his bed where he relaxes just a bit too much. 

Hyunwoo looks around, unsure, before cautiously taking a seat on the floor opposite Changkyun. He crosses his legs, as Changkyun had done, and it makes Changkyun smile.

Hyunwoo’s cute, but Changkyun probably shouldn’t be admitting that to himself. 

“What are you doing next?” Hyunwoo asks. 

“Tarot reading,” Changkyun answers. He takes the cards out of the pack, the smooth surface and light weight of them in his hands so familiar and grounding. He runs his hand over the top of the deck, sharing his energy with it, and then begins to shuffle the cards. He handles the cards delicately and with the utmost care, and in return the cards are honest with him and support him.

Once he deems the cards adequately shuffled, Changkyun places the deck face down onto the table in front of him. He touches the top card, ready to take it, but the energy is wrong, he can feel it. Instead, he splits the deck in the middle, then places the cards back down and tries again.

This time the energy is as it should be. 

He lays down three cards, doing a simple past, present, future spread. It won’t tell him anything he doesn’t already know, he’s sure, as this is one of the most basic spreads, but with Hyunwoo watching him, Changkyun hadn’t wanted to dive into anything too complicated or revealing. 

Changkyun flips the first card over - the one representing the past - and Death greets him, but reversed.

Hyunwoo gasps. “Is that bad?”

Changkyun shakes his head. It’s a common misconception that the Death card is bad, but in fact it is simply a symbol for a change or a transformation, and Changkyun’s found it coming up more and more often. Usually, though, it appears in it’s upright form, not the reversed form that he sees it in now. 

“Death reversed represents stagnation, an unwillingness to change,” Changkyun explains to Hyunwoo. He could simply do his reading and not share it with Hyunwoo, as he can read the cards himself easily, but he might as well give Hyunwoo a true taste of what tarot is like. “This is representing my past, which makes sense. I was stuck in the city, knowing I needed to do something about it, but refusing to.”

Changkyun flips the next card to reveal the Three of Wands. “This represents growth and foresight,” he says, touching the card with his fingertips. “It’s about the present, how I moved here and I’m changing as a person, but for the better. It’s a positive card, thankfully.”

Hyunwoo nods, showing that he understands.

Then Changkyun flips the third card.

The Two of Cups stands proudly on the table. Changkyun frowns as he studies it, as this is not the card he’d expected to see. 

“What does this one mean?” Hyunwoo asks when Changkyun fails to tell him instantly. 

“There’s a partnership in my future,” Changkyun says simply. He studies the card more, as if it would change and morph into a different one that’d make more sense to him. But the Two of Cups remains.

Changkyun can only assume that it’s telling him of a partnership, a unity, a  _ connection _ between him and Hyunwoo, and he doesn’t know what to make of that. 

He’d felt something he can’t explain when he’d touched Hyunwoo’s hand for the first time, but he’d assumed that it was just his imagination, or an electric shock, but now Changkyun’s not so sure.

Could it really be that there’s a connection between he and Hyunwoo that will only grow and develop as time goes on?

Changkyun doesn’t know the answer to that, and he’s reluctant to consult his cards about it with Hyunwoo still here, but he does know that it intrigues him greatly. 

* * *

Bathing, the last task on Changkyun’s agenda, gets put off following the reading. He doesn’t know why he’s avoiding it, maybe it’s the unexpected outcome of his reading, or maybe it’s that he’s feeling shy knowing that Hyunwoo is in his house with him, but then it starts to get late and Changkyun realises that if he wants to have a bath before he sleeps then he needs to get it soon.

As the water fills up, Changkyun makes himself a cup of tea on autopilot, as he never has a bath without a mug of tea, but then he remembers Hyunwoo, who’d been surprisingly quiet ever since Changkyun had finished his reading, and makes a second mug. 

Once the kettle has boiled and the tea is made, Changkyun takes the two mugs into his study where Hyunwoo is having a look through his books. 

“You have interesting literature,” Hyunwoo comments as Changkyun enters. Then, his eyes lock on the mugs in Changkyun’s hands and he asks, “What are those?”

Changkyun places both mugs down on his desk. “Tea.”

“Is one for me?”

Changkyun nods and shifts one of the mugs across the desk so that it’s more accessible to Hyunwoo. 

Hyunwoo takes a cautious sip of the tea, then scrunches his nose up and puts the mug down. “That is an acquired taste.”

Changkyun laughs and shakes his head. “You don’t have to drink it, don’t worry.”

“Thank you for making me one.” Now that Hyunwoo’s so close to Changkyun, kneeling on the floor in front of Changkyun who’s sitting in his chair, he realises how pretty Hyunwoo’s eyes are. They’re a deep, rich brown colour, similar to Changkyun’s own, but every now and then flecks of green appear and then disappear just as fast. “Something interesting?” Hyunwoo asks, amused, and Changkyun realises he’s been staring.

“Your eyes change colour. I’ve never seen that before.”

“They do?” Hyunwoo asks. “I never knew that.”

“They’re pretty,” Changkyun compliments. “By the way, I’m going to take a bath soon.”

“Do we bathe together, or is it a solo activity?” 

Changkyun tries, and fails, to stifle a laugh. It’s sweet how little Hyunwoo knows about humans and their customs, but if he’s never interacted with any before Changkyun it doesn’t come as a surprise. “Solo, usually. I don’t think my bath is big enough for two people, anyway, and you don’t need to be seeing me naked on the first day we meet.” Changkyun isn’t shy, quite the opposite. All of his friends have dealt with him never wearing clothes, like, ever, and he doesn’t really mind what Hyunwoo sees of him, but it feels like he should let Hyunwoo know that humans don’t generally appear naked around one another, as that seems like quite an important custom for him to be aware of. 

“Is it weird? To see others naked?” Hyunwoo asks, genuinely curious.

“Usually, yeah, unless you’re, like, super close, or in a relationship, or you’re me and you don’t care.”

“Hm.” Hyunwoo doesn’t seem like he understands, but he doesn’t ask further. “Shall I stay here while you bathe?”

Now, the right answer would be to say yes, because Hyunwoo most definitely doesn’t need to be in the room while Changkyun’s having a bath, but also Changkyun  _ really _ wants to learn more about dryads, to learn from one themselves about what it’s like, in the same way that Hyunwoo wants to learn about humans. As a green witch, dryads have always been one of Changkyun’s biggest curiosities, and now he has one here, with him, and he doesn’t know how much time they’ll have together. So, Changkyun says, “You can come with, if you want. I don’t really mind either way and it’d be nice to talk without any distractions.”

Hyunwoo smiles. “Then I will come with you.”

So the two go to Changkyun’s bathroom together, where his bath is filled to just the perfect height, even though the water is a little bit too hot right now, but it’ll cool down. 

“You can sit there.” Changkyun gestures to the toilet because it’s the only seat in the bathroom, if you can really call it that.

Hyunwoo takes a seat as Changkyun pulls out a bath bomb. He drops it into the bath and it starts to fizz and the water swirls with pink.

“What is that?”

“A bath bomb,” Changkyun says, pulling off his shirt, then his trousers, and then his underwear before he lowers himself into the bath. He hisses as the scalding hot water touches his skin, but once he submerges himself, he finds that it’s not too bad to deal with. 

Changkyun looks over to Hyunwoo to see him staring at the wall beside him. He must feel the weight of Changkyun’s stare as he says, “I did not want to look, as you said it was strange. Can I turn around?”

“Go ahead.”

Their eyes meet across the bathroom and Hyunwoo smiles, which makes Changkyun smile. “Tell me about dryads,” Changkyun requests. He can’t wait any longer. He wants to know everything. 

“Well, we all have our own tree which we’re attached to,” Hyunwoo says, and Changkyun notes that he’s speaking more casually now, adapting his speech to the way Changkyun talks rather than the overly formal language he’d been using before. “I am part of my tree as much as my tree is part of me. We’re the same, in a sense.”

“Interesting,” Changkyun comments, and it is. He’d known about dryads and trees being linked, but never understood fully that they’re actually the same. “Do all trees have dryads?”

Hyunwoo shakes his head. “Only some. If the tree dies, then the dryad dies with it. It is especially bad with the deforestation I have heard humans are such a fan of. Dryads are slowly dying out.” There’s heart wrenching sadness in Hyunwoo’s voice, and Changkyun can’t help but wonder if there’s something personal there. He doesn’t dare to ask, though. 

Changkyun feels remorse, so much remorse, for all the damage that humans have done that they don’t even care about. He knows he’s not directly responsible, but he can’t help but feel like he has to burden some of the responsibility regardless. “I’m sorry for humans. They, well, we really are a plague.”

“You’re not,” Hyunwoo disagrees. “You do good. I can sense your soul, the purity of it. Do not associate yourself with those who have impure souls.”

Something about Hyunwoo being able to sense Changkyun’s soul and call him pure makes him feel exposed, which is ironic as he didn’t feel exposed being  _ actually _ exposed to Hyunwoo through his lack of clothes. 

“Dryads aren’t really that interesting,” Hyunwoo continues. “We simply live in our trees and exist. Humans are far more intriguing.”

“It’s the complete opposite for me,” Changkyun says. “Humans are just so  _ boring _ . Dryads, well you at least, seem so much cooler.”

“I appreciate you thinking I’m cool, but I think I’m far from it.”

“You’re really cool,” Changkyun insists. “The coolest.”

Hyunwoo smiles and laughs. “Are we having a compliment competition?”

Although he probably doesn’t intend to make it sound like a challenge, Changkyun takes it as one. “Let’s do this then. You look really strong.” Not his strongest compliment ever but, well, he’d panicked. 

Hyunwoo raises an eyebrow at that. “Interesting. I am rather strong, I think. I could probably lift you up.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that. Maybe you should show me sometime,” Changkyun suggests. Then he thinks back on his own words. Is he  _ flirting _ ? With a dryad? This is definitely a new one, and Changkyun isn’t sure what really is considered flirting or not, but he’s pretty sure this isn’t how most people communicate with a person they just met, let alone a being of nature. 

Although Changkyun’s quite literally naked right now, so he’s not really the perfect example for how to act during first impressions, anyway. 

“You have beautiful eyes,” Hyunwoo says suddenly. 

“I do?” Changkyun’s never really thought about his eyes much before, seeing them as rather plain and, well, regular. Also, Hyunwoo has some of the prettiest eyes Changkyun’s ever seen, so hearing it come from him makes it sound even more unbelievable. 

“They remind me of tree bark and I think trees are beautiful of course,” Hyunwoo says. “The bark of the tree is the strength of it, the support, the part that keeps it alive. Your eyes have that strength too.”

Changkyun feels his face heat up. He never would’ve thought that his eyes would garner him such a wonderful compliment. “Thank you, Hyunwoo. That’s really kind of you.”

“It is just the truth,” Hyunwoo replies. 

* * *

By the time it comes to when Changkyun usually goes to sleep, he feels himself reluctant to do so, despite the weariness and exhaustion that sinks deep into his bones. There’s this underlying fear that when Changkyun wakes up, Hyunwoo will be gone, and the day he spent with him will be nothing but a memory.

It comes as a shock to even Changkyun that he finds himself wanting Hyunwoo to stick around and is worried that he might never see him again, as he barely knows Hyunwoo. They just met this morning, after all.

But the Two of Cups plays on his mind. He feels like there’s a significance there, something about his and Hyunwoo’s meeting that is important in his life, and he hasn’t figured out what. If Hyunwoo leaves, he may never figure out that significance. 

“Are you going to leave?” Changkyun blurts, unexpected even to himself. His eyes widen and he lies down in his bed and rolls over so his back is to Hyunwoo in the embarrassment of asking that.

“Would you like me to leave?”

“No,” Changkyun is quick to deny. He can’t believe Hyunwoo would even assume that that’s what he might be implying. “I just— Don’t you feel like there’s something bigger than us going on here?”

“Bigger than us?” Changkyun can’t see Hyunwoo, obviously, but he can hear the clear confusion in his voice and he wants to scream at himself for even saying anything. 

“Forget it,” Changkyun says. “I’m being dumb.”

The sound of soft footsteps on the floor grow closer, and then Hyunwoo’s face appears in front of Changkyun’s own as he crouches down in front of him.

“Maybe it was destiny that we met, or maybe it was simply a one in a million chance of us crossing paths with one another,” Hyunwoo says, a thoughtful, but distant look on his face, “but whatever it is, and whatever significance you believe it to have, I enjoy your company.”

Changkyun feels the heat on his cheeks and resists the urge to bury his face into his pillow. He can’t believe he’s acting like a lovesick teenager with someone he just barely met. It’s absurd, ridiculous, and so unlike Changkyun that he wonders what’s gotten into him. 

“If you will allow it, I’d like to stay with you. For a while at least, as I do have to return to my tree eventually.” Changkyun doesn’t want to think about Hyunwoo having to leave, so he ignores that part. “What do you say?”

And Changkyun doesn’t know what to say, that’s the problem. The rational part of his brain is screaming at him that how he’s acting is completely out of character, reminds him that he likes his solitude and his alone time, and so to wish for that to be interrupted is so very unusual. But the irrational part of his brain that seems to be steering the wheel right about now tells him that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. He has a dryad, a kind and interesting dryad, here who’s willing to let Changkyun learn more about dryads directly from them than anyone has done before. And as a green witch, one who’s always felt so connected to nature, that opportunity feels like one he can’t pass up.

“Is it weird to grow attached to you after knowing you for just a day?”

“You’ve been leaving me offerings for a while,” Hyunwoo points out kindly, “even if they weren’t originally intended for me. And then I infiltrated your dream. I think that may have an impact on why you may feel attached to me.”

Changkyun still feels ridiculous, but he decides not to dwell on it any longer. It’s going to get him nowhere if he does so, anyway. “I’m going to sleep,” he says instead, dodging the conversation.

“May I look through more of your library?” Hyunwoo asks politely, standing up from the crouch he’d been in. “I do not need sleep and I’d feel strange if I were to sit in here while you slept.”

Changkyun wouldn’t call his measly collection of books a library, but he doesn’t correct Hyunwoo. It’s a mini library, if anything. “Go ahead. Goodnight, Hyunwoo.”

“Goodnight.” Hyunwoo leaves and softly shuts the door behind him, and then Changkyun listens until he can’t hear Hyunwoo’s footsteps any longer.

But even then, it takes far longer than it should for Changkyun to finally ignore the thoughts swirling around in his head for long enough that he’s finally able to fall asleep.

* * *

Hyunwoo’s presence in Changkyun’s life becomes such a constant that he finds himself wondering how he ever lived a life alone without Hyunwoo around. It’s funny, really, to think that he moved out into the middle of nowhere, expecting to spend all his time alone and in solitude, only to end up spending even more time in the presence of someone else than he did when he lived in the city. 

Changkyun enjoys Hyunwoo’s presence, though. There’s a comfortable, familiar feeling between them, one that Changkyun finds takes years to establish usually with others, but his and Hyunwoo’s personalities seem to mesh so well together. They’re both quiet and enjoy the tranquility that comes with simply sharing a space with someone else without the need to talk or interact at all. 

It’s something that’s become so ingrained in Changkyun’s life now over the time Hyunwoo’s been staying with him that he fears the day he’s going to lose it. But he doesn’t dwell on that for now. He pushes that thought far out of his mind and instead tries to focus on the book he’s reading.

He can’t focus, though, and the words on the page don’t seem like words with meaning, but simply a jumble of letters that it’s impossible to decode.

“Hyunwoo?” Changkyun says, breaking the silence.

Hyunwoo looks up from his own book, putting a bookmark between the pages and setting it down to give Changkyun his full attention. “What do you need?”

And Changkyun doesn’t know what to answer to that because he hadn’t called Hyunwoo’s name with a plan in mind of what to say to him, he’d simply done it automatically. When he’s frustrated, or bored, or just simply feels the need to use his voice, he calls Hyunwoo’s name. 

Changkyun scrambles to come up with something to say. “Tell me about your life. I want to know more.” It’s the truth, even if it hadn’t been his plan to say it. 

Hyunwoo’s sprinkled little bits about his life here and there throughout their conversations, but Changkyun feels like he doesn’t know too much about Hyunwoo’s past. He can’t help but wonder about his friends and family (if he has those because Changkyun’s not really sure how it works for dryads).

“Well, I’ve been around for a very long time,” Hyunwoo says. He sits up straighter in his seat, poised to tell a story, and Changkyun finds himself leaning forward in his own seat with interest. “My mother used to reside in the forest with me, but she moved on to another tree elsewhere and I haven’t seen her since.” He doesn’t sound sad as he says this, and Changkyun doesn’t know if he’s masking his emotions or if the relationship with his mother isn’t the same as how humans often have relationships with their parents. “I only knew her for a very brief time before she left, but she was the one who warned me about humans.

“I lived a pretty lonely life for many years. I was simply existing, nothing more. Then I came to realise that a tree beside my own also had a dryad.” There’s an emotion that Changkyun can’t place in Hyunwoo’s voice. “I spent every day trying to get him to talk to me so that I could have a friend, and it took  _ so _ long, but eventually he caved.” Hyunwoo smiles, but it’s a sad sort of smile. “We became lovers eventually. It was so good to care and be cared for in that way.” Hyunwoo stops for a moment, swallows, and then continues. “But he’d had a run in with the fae a long, long time ago, made a mistake by stealing from the fae princess, and they came and destroyed his tree, destroying him with it.” There are tears running down Hyunwoo’s face now.

Changkyun can’t sit here and just watch Hyunwoo cry, so he cautiously approaches him and wraps his arms around Hyunwoo, pulling him into his chest. He feels Hyunwoo’s tears soak through his shirt, but he ignores it. He focuses on running his hand comfortingly through Hyunwoo’s hair. 

After a short while, Hyunwoo pulls back from Changkyun and smiles up at him weakly. The tears are still there in the corners of his eyes, but they’re not falling anymore. 

“I’m sorry I made you tell me that,” Changkyun says quietly, continuing to pet Hyunwoo’s hair softly. 

“Don’t be. I wanted to tell you, it is just hard to tell.” Hyunwoo takes a deep breath and sits up tall. “It was a long time ago now, a very long time, and I’ve slowly come to peace with it. Talking about it is still a hard thing to do, but don’t worry about me.”

Changkyun feels unsure, but he accepts Hyunwoo’s words. “Thank you for telling me,” he says. 

Hyunwoo smiles again, but this time it’s more genuine and less misery-filled. “You’ve shared so much about yourself with me, I felt it only fair to do the same with you.”

Changkyun strokes his hand through Hyunwoo’s hair once more before he returns to his own seat. They don’t speak again, as they don’t need to, and return to reading their respective books.

And yet, Changkyun finds that he still can’t focus. 

* * *

It’s strange, really, how Hyunwoo found himself growing so attached to the one species he was always told to never interact with. But maybe it’s that he was told to never do so that left him craving it more, for the things that are banned are always so much more appealing than those that are handed to us. 

Or maybe it has nothing to do with that. Maybe Hyunwoo just happened to find the human who is the exception to the rule, that is so totally opposite to the humans he’s learnt to avoid. It’d make sense, as Changkyun’s often told him over the time they’ve spent together how humans aren’t so good, just as Hyunwoo’s mother had told him all those years ago.

And yet, Hyunwoo finds that whether Changkyun is a human or not is irrelevant to him. Whether he is a witch or not (and Hyunwoo still isn’t entirely sure what a witch is, but he feels he’s left it too long to ask Changkyun now) is irrelevant.

Changkyun is Changkyun, and that’s all there is to it.

And Hyunwoo? Hyunwoo finds himself fond of Changkyun, in a way that he hasn’t experienced for a long time. He’s been lonely for years, out there in the forest with no one else around, but he can’t say it’s that. Because while Changkyun fills the hole of loneliness in Hyunwoo’s heart, there’s also more to it. There’s more to Changkyun than simply stopping Hyunwoo’s loneliness.

The fondness that Hyunwoo feels, the fondness that he promised himself to never feel after what happened to— No, he can’t even bear to say his name.

Hyunwoo told himself to never fall in love again, but that’s exactly what he did.

Changkyun doesn’t know any of this. Hyunwoo keeps it locked up tight in his mind, is careful to never spill anything to Changkyun, as the last thing he’d want would be to scare Changkyun off, and he cannot imagine that being told that Hyunwoo is in love with him would  _ not _ scare Changkyun off.

Another strange thing, really, is how easy Hyunwoo finds it admitting it to himself. The weeks, months, however long it’s been, Hyunwoo can’t keep track of time well, as it’s such a human custom to think in terms of days and weeks and months and years, have passed so quickly and he knows that he’s been here for a while, longer than he knows he should’ve stayed. And all that time he’s spent with Changkyun made it easy for Hyunwoo to come to terms with the truth.

There’s a sense of excitement that comes along with it too, despite Hyunwoo knowing that falling in love with a human is definitely not something a dryad should do. But knowing that the last thing that’s expected of him is to fall in love with a human makes Hyunwoo think it’s even more mischievous that he did.

Of course, he didn’t set out to fall in love with Changkyun when he asked to learn about the human way of life from Changkyun, but it happened and Hyunwoo doesn’t see a point in denying it to himself. 

The truth of the matter is that Hyunwoo is in love with Changkyun, but also that he has to leave him soon.

That’s the part that hurts most. The knowledge that Hyunwoo cannot survive here with Changkyun forever. He has to return to his tree, as they cannot be separated for long, and he’s already been gone for far longer than he’s ever dared before. He’s starting to feel the effects of being away for so long, the loss of energy and power, the dizzy spells that he’s done so well to hide from Changkyun.

So, the best thing for Hyunwoo to do is to never tell Changkyun of his feelings, as it would only hurt him more when Hyunwoo has to leave.

And Hyunwoo knows the day he has to leave is soon.

* * *

“Would you like to go on a walk?” Hyunwoo asks from behind Changkyun.

Changkyun chews the bite of sandwich he has in his mouth and looks over his shoulder to see Hyunwoo leaning against the doorway. He smiles at Changkyun when he sees him looking, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Sure. Where do you want to go?”

“The forest?” Hyunwoo suggests.

“Sure, let me just finish my sandwich.”

And once Changkyun has finished, he and Hyunwoo wander into the forest side by side. Changkyun allows Hyunwoo to lead the way, as he’d been the one to suggest going on a walk, and Changkyun has a feeling there’s an underlying reason to taking this walk that’s not just Hyunwoo feeling up to walking. 

Neither of them speak as they walk and Changkyun feels the back of his hand brush across Hyunwoo’s occasionally, but he doesn’t dare to reach out to hold it. That would be a step too far, he’s sure. 

As they walk, Changkyun can’t help but let his mind wander, going to all the dark places about why they’re taking this walk, but he tries to shake them away. He can’t let himself worry about these things. 

They end up standing inside that clearing where they’d first met. The clearing where Changkyun had been leaving offerings for what he’d presumed were fae, but instead was Hyunwoo. 

It’s a strange feeling to be back. Changkyun hasn’t returned here since the day he allowed Hyunwoo to come home with him. He hadn’t seen a reason to, as his reasonings before had been to leave offerings, but now there’s no one to leave offerings for.

“This is where his tree was,” Hyunwoo says suddenly, gesturing to what Changkyun had believed before to be a fairy circle. 

A pang of sadness and guilt shoots straight into Changkyun’s heart. “I’m sorry for disturbing the area.”

Hyunwoo shakes his head. “I appreciated it. I still do. It’s nice that even if he is gone and his tree is, too, that the ground was made use of as a place of offering.”

“Why are we here, Hyunwoo?” Changkyun dares to ask. He knows this isn’t some simple walk through the woods now. There’s something bigger here, something Hyunwoo won’t tell him. 

Hyunwoo slumps, his back to Changkyun, and sighs. He doesn’t speak, just stands there slumped over.

And Changkyun waits, because he needs an explanation for all this, but he can’t bring himself to ask a second time.

“I’m running out of energy,” Hyunwoo admits finally, standing back up again and turning to face Changkyun. There are tears in the corner of his eyes and he’s frowning. “I have to return to my tree.”

Changkyun knew it was coming. Deep down he knew that there wasn’t really any chance that Hyunwoo would stay forever, that one day he’d have to leave, but he chose to ignore it. He buried the thought of Hyunwoo ever leaving deep down inside of him, but now it’s finally out in the open. Changkyun is going to be alone again.

His chest aches with the sorrow of Hyunwoo leaving and Changkyun feels tears prick at the corner of his own eyes. He holds his tears back, ignoring the stinging that comes with it, and forces himself to look into Hyunwoo’s eyes. “You’re leaving.” He doesn’t have to say it, they both know it, but Changkyun can’t let himself accept it until he allows the words to leave his own mouth.

“Not forever,” Hyunwoo says. “Just for now.”

And Changkyun doesn’t want to let his emotions control him, but he can’t help but ask, with a sliver of spite, “But how long is ‘for now’?”

As soon as the words are out of his mouth he regrets them. And he regrets them even more when he sees the hurt on Hyunwoo’s face.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. I just don’t want you to go,” Changkyun rushes to say. “I’m going to miss you.” As soon as he says it, the tears spill over, and Changkyun stops trying to fight them. There’s no use, now. He knows they’re going to continue to fall whether he wants them to or not. 

“I will miss you so much, Changkyun,” Hyunwoo says, and now there are tears streaming down his face too. 

And if this is his goodbye, Changkyun isn’t going to waste the chance to tell Hyunwoo how he really feels about him. It’s something he’s thought about a lot, more than he’d like to admit, and he feels silly for falling for a  _ dryad _ , but he can’t help what his heart yearns for. 

“I fell in love with you,” Changkyun says quietly. “I didn’t mean to and I didn’t see it coming until it had already happened, but I fell in love.”

Hyunwoo doesn’t look shocked at Changkyun’s words. Instead there’s this fondness in his eyes that Changkyun has never seen before. “I fell in love with you, too, and I’m sure my mother would hate me for admitting to loving a human, but I do.”

And this is the best case scenario for Changkyun, as the man he loves loves him back, and he almost lets himself sink into that feeling of happiness and let it overcome him. But then reality hits again and he realises that even if they love each other, Hyunwoo still has to leave.

“I’ll make you a promise,” Hyunwoo says. He walks up to his tree and carefully tears off a piece of bark. Then, he walks up to Changkyun and lifts his hand carefully, and places the bark in it, then wraps Changkyun’s fingers around it. “This is my promise for you. A part of me, to remind you that this isn’t over.”

Changkyun grips the bark tightly, afraid that if he doesn’t then it’ll disappear, and allows the rough texture of it against his skin to ground him. “I don’t want you to go,” he says in a small voice. “I don’t want to say goodbye.”

Hyunwoo cups Changkyun’s face gently, then lets his hand drop and leans his forehead against Changkyun’s, looking deep into his eyes. “I promise you that it’s not a goodbye. It’s a see you later.” He stays there for a second longer before he takes a step back, and then another, and then another.

Hyunwoo continues to step backwards until his back is against his tree, and then he gives one last smile.

And then he’s gone.

And it’s only then, once Hyunwoo’s finally become one with his tree again that Changkyun allows himself to sink to his knees and sob and sob and sob until he’s no longer able to.

* * *

Moving on from the loss of Hyunwoo in his life takes Changkyun more time than he cares to admit. It had been hard at first, so hard, and he’d gone back to Hyunwoo’s tree every single day praying that Hyunwoo will be there again. But he never was.

But time heals all wounds, and eventually Changkyun found his rhythm again and being alone stopped feeling weird and uncomfortable. Things returned to how they were before Changkyun met Hyunwoo.

But he hasn’t forgotten Hyunwoo and he never will. He still returns to the area where Hyunwoo’s tree is and leaves him offerings, as he had done before they’d met, and whenever he goes back the offerings have gone, so he can only assume that Hyunwoo is taking them.

It brings him comfort to leave the offerings, and it’s helped him to push through the hardships and continue on without the man he loves by his side every second.

Changkyun still loves Hyunwoo and he always will, and he knows that Hyunwoo loves him too.

* * *

When Changkyun wakes up that morning, he pulls The Sun from his deck, the symbol of joy and happiness, and he knows that today is going to be a good day. He grabs his little pouch of offerings for Hyunwoo for today, and then returns to Hyunwoo’s tree as he does at least once a week now.

As Hyunwoo’s tree looms over him, Changkyun doesn’t feel intimidated at all. He feels nothing but comfort being here. Even the hurt that he once felt due to the reminder that he’s parted from Hyunwoo is no longer there.

Changkyun lays down the pouch at the base of the tree, as he always does, and touches the bark. It’s rough beneath his fingers, no different than usual, and Changkyun smiles. He touches the bark that Hyunwoo had given him on the necklace that hangs around his neck sitting flush against his chest, then turns to leave. 

Changkyun only makes it a few steps before a burning sensation against his chest brings him to a halt. He looks down and sees the piece of bark is glowing a dull orange colour, and that’s what’s causing the burning sensation.

He turns back and there stands Hyunwoo, waiting for him, smiling.

There’s no hesitation on Changkyun’s part. He barrels into Hyunwoo, pulling him into a hug and sobbing into his chest from happiness and relief. 

Hyunwoo’s arms wrap around Changkyun and squeeze him close. He lets Changkyun sob into his chest for as long as he needs.

Eventually Changkyun finds the strength to stop crying and pull away from Hyunwoo to look into his eyes. They’re the same as they always were - deep brown with flecks of green passing through. 

“I missed you so much,” Changkyun says. He can’t even believe this is really happening. After all this time of being apart from Hyunwoo, it’s unbelievable that he’s standing here in front of Changkyun again.

“I missed you, too.” Hyunwoo presses the gentlest of kisses to Changkyun’s forehead. “I promised I’d be back, didn’t I?”

Tears well up in Changkyun’s eyes once again. “You did.”

The emotion overwhelms Changkyun, and he finally kisses Hyunwoo properly, as he’s been waiting to do this whole time, regretting not kissing him the last time they saw each other.

They kiss and they kiss and they kiss and Changkyun realises that this is where he was meant to be, in Hyunwoo’s arms. When he moved for a new start, he didn’t have any expectations. He simply wanted to change his life around. And this is a change he could’ve never saw coming, but one that he welcomes with open arms. Hyunwoo is Changkyun’s new start, he came to realise over that time they’ve been apart.

Beneath the smiling sun, a witch and a dryad share kisses and tears and whispers of love.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos & comments are much appreciated!!!!
> 
> twitter: [@changkihyks](http://twitter.com/changkihyks/)  
> cc: [changkihyks](https://curiouscat.me/changkihyks?t=1559413679/)  
> 


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